Back in the Saddle
by Dragon Elexus
Summary: It's been fourteen years since Rose Quartz died. Fourteen years of raising Steven, fighting monsters, and saving the planet. Pearl and Greg have never felt they needed anything more than that. Then, within the space of a week, they both end up with unexpected dates. That's got to be a sign of something, right? (PearlxMystery Girl, Greg x Mr. Smiley)
1. Quarter for your Thoughts

**Author's Note:** Yep, I'm jumping on the Mystery Pearl bandwagon, and building my own wagon to go along for the ride.

I've rated this story Teen due to some degree of mild swearing, as well as references to drinking and sex.

 **Chapter One: Quarter for Your Thoughts**

It starts with Steven being late for dinner.

Greg doesn't eat at the Temple all that often, and while he's being doing it more recently, it's still a bit of a special occasion. Which is why he's so surprised— and disappointed— when Steven doesn't show up on time. At five minutes they barely notice, but fifteen is very strange. Pearl begins tutting and fretting, Garnet looks unsurprised, and Amethyst is eyeing the food as if she's ready to eat the whole casserole herself, dish and all.

Steven shows up over half-an-hour later. He slinks through the door, sheepish, face covered in poorly cleaned silver makeup. "Sorry," he says.

"It turns out that he'd got roped into helping Mr. Smiley at the arcade for the day. Or not just for the day— indefinitely.

"What? He can't make you do that, dude," says Amethyst.

"But I broke his machine! I have to repay him!"

Over the course of dinner they get the full story out of him. Mr. Smiley had pulled some old fortune teller game out of storage, and it had fallen apart the moment Steven had tapped it too hard. Which is a shame, but hardly calls for indentured servitude. Pearl in particular looks prepared to point a spear at the man that's made Steven's legs ache.

Greg steps in before the Gems can go off and torment the guy. Once they finish supper, Greg sets out to Funland alone. (He'd bring Steven, but the kid's been on his feet all day, and deserves a rest). Outside the arcade he finds the Future Boy Zoltron game which caused all this trouble. It _is_ cool, in a retro way— kind of like his van. But it's also in way worse shape than his van, which is saying something.

There's a jangle of keys. Greg looks up to see the arcade's owner, closing down for the day. "Mr. Smiley!"

"Hey," Mr. Smiley says, as he slides down the metal grating on the store front. "Let me guess. You're here about Steven?"

"Yes. Listen, you really can't expect him to—"

"Yes, I can. He broke my game."

"He's just a kid."

"He's just a kid who's caused me property damage a good three times before."

"By mistake! You know he doesn't mean any harm, he's really sorry—"

"I know." Finally something soft shows in the man's hard, smiling face. "But 'sorry's don't make up my profit."

"Come on," says Greg. "How much would this piece of junk have actually made?"

Mr. Smiley shifts. "… Every nickel counts."

Greg frowns. Looks at the man more closely. There are shoots of silver in his hair that he doesn't remember from before. More wrinkles on his face. Heavy bags under his eyes. His clothes are disheveled, and look like they haven't been changed in days.

Everyone knows that Funland isn't in great financial shape. It isn't easy supporting a full amusement park in a town as small as Beach City. But how bad is the situation, really?

Greg reaches for his pocket. Mr. Smiley's eyebrows shoot up. "You gonna pay the damage?"

"I could," Greg says, suppressing a sigh. Rich or not, he still feels uncomfortable spending large amounts of money. "But let's try something else first."

Instead of pulling out a wallet, Greg takes out a ziplock bag. Inside is a damp wad of tissue paper.

"What're you doing?" asks Mr Smiley as Greg pulls the tissue out.

Greg doesn't answer— just picks up the creepy Zoltron robot, places it on top of its broken perch, and applies the tissue paper to where the metal snapped. For a moment, nothing happens— then there are faint sparkles of light as the metal seals over.

"What the—" says Mr. Smiley. "How'd you do that?"

"Steven's got healing spit."

Mr. Smiley gives him a look. "Why didn't he use it before, then?"

"He can be kind of forgetful about these things." Mr. Smiley gives an accepted nod, but otherwise doesn't react to the revelation. Greg puts the healing spit napkin back into the bag, slides into a pocket, then pulls out a quarter. He puts it into the coin slot and asks the machine, "Are you fixed?"

" _You-lucky-colour-for-today-is-orange_."

"Well I'll be." Mr Smiley shakes his head. "Thanks, Greg."

Greg shrugs. "Don't worry about it, Mr. Smiley."

"Call me Harold. And listen— you were right. I was being too hard on Steven. He's a good kid."

Greg smiles. "I know."

Mr. Smiley— Harold— pulls out a quarter of his own, twirling it between his fingers. He's still smiling, but there's a nervous edge to the expression now. "I— uh. Hey. I wanna make this up to you."

Greg's about to say, 'there's nothing to make up for' or 'water under the bridge' or something else to that effect, when Harold puts the coin into the machine and asks, "Would Greg like to grab dinner sometime?"

" _Your-lucky-for-today-shape-is-triangle!_ "

Greg blinks. "What?"

"I— never mind."

"No, no—. Um. Dinner— dinner would be fun. Sure."

It's all flustered and awkward, and the two of them get carried away into making dinner arrangements for next week at Fish Stew Pizza. None of them are quite sure what to say after that, so they both rush off— and it's not until Greg's finally back at the car wash that it hits him that he just agreed to a _date._


	2. Adventures in Texting

**Adventures in Texting**

It starts with a trip to buy a phone.

Pearl had received a phone number from a mysterious, pink-haired human girl, but she'd had no phone with which to use it with. Well, there was Steven's, but both he and Amethyst had veto'd that option by declaring it 'weird'.

So they'd gone to get a phone, using the credit card Greg had set up for them to buy groceries and other necessities. A phone did not count as either, but they don't need to worry about Gregory's finances anymore, so Pearl doesn't feel particularly guilty. Once they arrived at the store, Pearl was confronted with a rater dizzying display with hundreds of models, followed by a rather confusing discussion about 'monthly plans' and 'data' and 'apps' and 'texting', before Steven finally helps her settle on a suitable purchase.

"'Unlimited texting'," Amethyst says, quoting the man from behind the counter. "Duh! Why didn't I think of that?"

"What do you mean?" asks Pearl.

"I mean you can just text the girl, instead of talking. Like, send her written messages. That way you won't freak out or anything."

"Oh!" says Pearl. "Is that appropriate? It seems rather… impersonal."

"It's fine," Steven says. "Totally normal. Connie and I text all the time."

It still seems strange, and Pearl would protest more, but the thought of getting to plan her responses in advance is very appealing. She hates to admit it, but the girl makes her feel more bashful and tongue tied than she has in millennia.

Steven helps guide her through the phone's many screens— actually quite easy to navigate, since it's just simple human touch-screen technology— and leads her to the option to make a 'New Contact'. She types in the number from the now very-crumpled slip of paper she received. She leaves the 'Name' space blank.

Then slowly and methodically, she types, ' _Hello. This is Pearl. We met at the show two nights ago. What's your name?'_

A little tick shows up besides her message, then two. They turn blue. There's a moment which seems to stretch on unbearably long. Then suddenly the phone vibrates in her hand; Pearl only just manages not to drop it. The girl's message pops up. ' _woah. your the one with pink hair rite?_ '

Pearl winces a little at the bad grammar, but responds, ' _Yes, that's correct.'_

 _'Sweet  
_ _Did you like the show?'_

Pearl stares at the screen.

Amethyst and Steven lean in.

"What is it?" asks Amethyst.

"What did she say?" asks Steven, at the same time.

"She wants to know if I liked the show."

"Did you?" asks Steven.

"I… not particularly, no," admits Pearl. She _had_ enjoyed herself, but that had been more from the thrill and the company than the actual performance. "I just find that musical style needlessly loud and erratic."

Amethyst rolls her eyes, but doesn't make any of the snide remarks Pearl was expecting.

"Just tell her that," says Steven.

Amethyst balks. "No way, that sounds totally lame!"

Pearl grips the phone, knuckles turning white. Then, frowning in concentration, she taps out, ' _The show was fun, but I've heard better music.'_

' _Tell me about it'_

Pearl smiles. Amethyst and Steven, reading over her shoulder, cheer.

' _what music r u into?_ '

It takes Steven to translate the 'textspeak' for her, and once he does, Pearl has to seriously consider the question. She's sure that the others two know about dozens of 'cool' bands that she could supply as an answer, but Pearl probably won't know about any of them, let alone know if she _likes_ them. She wants to impress this human, but she doesn't want to be dishonest.

She eventually settles on something old— but timeless, surely. He certainly was very popular back in his day. ' _I've always enjoyed Mozart's works_.'

Amethyst groans.

' _Classical huh?  
somehow not surprised_'

"Ask her what she likes!" Steven suggests, so Pearl does.

' _oh, u know_  
indie stuff mostly  
i like kpop 2  
u heard of Sunmi?'

Pearl hasn't, and she admits as much.

' _you gotta listen. here_ ', the girl responds, and then sends her a long series of blue characters which look like utter gibberish.

"It's a TubeTube link. You gotta click on it, like this," shows Steven. The messaging box disappears, and up comes a video page titled "Full Moon". While it's loading, the other two huddle in close to listen. Finally the song begins playing, accompanied by a music video. Pearl ignores that; she's had enough experience with Greg to know that those are just abstract nonsense that humans put in because they're easily distracted. Instead, she closes her eyes and let's the music roll over her.

It begins in English, and at first, Pearl's not quite sure if she likes it— the beat's too heavy, the vocals too guttural. But then another singer comes in, voice light and sweet and enchanting, and it really is quite nice.

The song's in Korean, and it takes a moment for Pearl's translation capabilities to process it. It takes several moments more for Pearl to even bother listening to the words— but once she does, well…

" _Why does my heart pound so fast?"  
Now the time has finally come…_"

Pearl tells herself it's nothing. Human songs are filled with such romantic poetry; this one is hardly unique in that respect. It's not as though it means anything.

But she's blushing, and Amethyst is grinning at her with the widest, sharpest of smiles.

Steven may or may not understand the Korean, but he certainly doesn't seem to pick up on any of the subtext (if there even _is_ any). He just says, "Ooooh, that's pretty."

He vanishes a few moments later in search of his ukulele, inspiration having seemingly struck. Pearl begins to type our her opinion on the song, and by the time she's finished Steven's fully distracted with his own music— but Amethyst still there, still grinning.

Pearl straightens. "Well," she says. "Thank you very much for your assistance, Amethyst, but I think I can take it from here."

"You sure?"

"I'm quite confident, yes."

"Oh, I see." Amethyst waggles her eyebrows suggestively. "You just want a little _alone_ time."

Pearl looks away, but she doesn't deny it.

"Okayyyyy~!" trills Amethyst, flouncing away over dramatically. "I'll leave you love birds alone~!"

"We're not lovebirds!" Pearl calls back. "We barely even know each other!"

And it's true. They've spoke for a grand total of three minutes. And, Pearl realizes, the girl never did tell her her name.

Was that… deliberate? Does the human not want to tell her her name? Why not? Did Pearl ask incorrectly? Break some unknown code of etiquette? Should she ask again, or would that be rude?

Maybe she shouldn't have sent Amethyst off. Maybe she should call Steven back.

No, no. She doesn't need them, not for something as simple as this. She can handle it on her own.

' _By the way, you still haven't told me your name.'_

' _oh yeah guess i didnt. i'm sheena.'_

Well. That wasn't so hard.

 _"_ Sheena." Pearl says it aloud, experimentally rolling the syllables of it around her tongue. She types, ' _That's a lovely name._ '

' _haha thanks_ '

There's a beat, when Pearl's trying to consider what she should type next, but before she can even begin to formulate her thoughts, another message pops up. ' _so pretty pearl, you wanna meet up?_ '

The reply flies from Pearl's fingers. 'Yes.'

' _sweet.  
i'm free next tuesday 4'_

Pearl double checks her mental calendar, quite pleased by how well she's learned human schedules. No planned training with Connie, Garnet hasn't mentioned anything that's due to crop up then… She says that's perfectly fine. It takes her a couple tries to type it; her fingers are oddly unsteady.

 _'Coffee?_  
At the Starlucks in ocean town?  
since they finally rebuilt it'

' _Sounds wonderful_ ,' replies Pearl, a moment before she remembers that she doesn't actually _like_ coffee. Or _any_ drinks. Or consumption at all, for that matter.

' _cool. it's a date then._ '

Oh dear.

oOoOo

 **Author's Note:** Since I'm nearly as much of a repressed nerd as Pearl herself, and by no means a music buff, trying to figure out what kind of stuff MG would like was a bit of a challenge. I eventually settled on Sunmi because a) Rebecca Sugar says it's the type of music Pearl would listen to if she were human and b) it's actually what Garnet and Pearl's fusion dance in 'Cry for Help' was choreographed to.

(I do headcanon that all Gems have translation capabilities to explain the whole 'speaking and understanding English' thing. I suspect Steven too has those abilities, except he's never noticed because whenever he does overhear something in another language he just assumes it's English.)


End file.
